MILITARY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 9

MILITARY NOTES.

—♦ ; ' [Edited Bi Echelon.) TRAINING THE SIGNALLERS. The present course of revolver practice is regarded by the British' Army Council us inefficient, and proposals aro now being considered for the introduction of a now course 1 which will include practices at moro realistic.targets. ".The syllabus'now being'drawn up, will afford adequate preliminary as well as progressive instruction;

In lieu of the regimental orderlies allowed (o ofliccrs under the old .military regulations," tho Australian Minister for Defence is providing civilian labour- at schools of instruction. The oflicers will not have to brush their own; boots nor make their own beds, nor will trained soldiers lie called up to do the work of personal servants. The Minister lias approved of the employment by tho Department of civilian servants, one to bo provided fnr every two mounted officers. and one for every six dismounted officers. Where tho mounted oflicers are using Government horses attended to by the personnel provided by . tho Department, the civilian servants employed will be one to every six oflicers. The men emploved as servants will be given Cs. a day, with tentage and' quarters. , •

Further trouble has occurred in UiO Commonwealth Del'tnce Department concerning the pay of the medical men employed. The Australian Army .Medical Corps and tho doctors who attend to the permanent' forces are responsible lor. heavy work, including fortnightly drills anil occasional lectures. They receive only ill! a year, and have to serve eight days in camp, when, although paid 225. Gd! a day, they lost- money. They nro now putting strong claims before tho Minister for lietter pay, and they threaten that if nothing is done for them oh the next Estimates they will resign. AVhat specially irritates them is that',the area medical oflicers have been given .MO. a, year, under the Minister's new scheme, and that when these positions wero vacant they were refused (o the A.A.M.C. men bemuse, stated the Department, tliev were already doing as much as they could of military work. The Minister has promised substantial recognition -in July next, and it is expected that the new scheme will provide for the garrison 'and medical corps doctors taking over much of the area work. •

To Sergeant Fox, signalling instructor of the .'lrd Coldstream Guards, belongs the credit of an ingenious idea whereby-long-distance signalling practice can 'be obtained at any time of the day or night in any sort of weather, and with flag, lielib. or service lamp. Briefly, the idea is an adaptation of. a landscape scene, such as one finds in the Solano or HillSifl'kcn 'targets, lo Jong-distance signal-, ling* the visible flags, lights, etc., being scaltd down to the scene, which, at varying distances up to fifty or sixty yards, gives prudieo in sending and receiving up to twenty miles. The apparatus, if wo can call so simple on arrangement by such a term, consists merely of a portable screen, with'simple signalling mechanism at the back, which e;\u be set np in a lew minutes in a.barrack-room or drill-shed, or a parade ground, or even ill a back garden, in a few minutes. At various points on the landscape signalling stations lire depicted, equipped with (lags, lielio, lamp, and semaphore, and alltheso caii bo worked from behind without the operator being visible. As the. visible parts of the instruments oro scaled_ down to the distance required, their sotting ill the landscape is quite according to actual practice, the eye '-being trained to pick them up, and the long-distance telescope,, mounted at, a short distance from th® screen, used to read the messages. A demonstration of the uses of the invention was recently attended by officers and signallers from all parts of the Aldershot' Comniayd. Tho scene on the screen represented a typical stretch of English country, lu a corner of a'field a signalling station was, represented; by,.a tiny wil'O passing tlufonp? the scrbeu,'''bearing an equally tiny flag. This was worked from behind, and being too small to 1» picked up by tho naked eye, at moro than twenty yards from the screen, the messages had to bo read with the aid of tho service telescope. At another point, at the corner of the iron euclosuro at tho bottom left corner, a helio Hashed out its messages. This impression was given by the flashing of a tiny electric bulb lamp, set in the screen and also worked from behind. Tho curious

"spark" of thohelio was faithfully reproduced. 11l tlio centre of tho screen wore two (-lotted shutters, which, when withdrawn, disclosed (he full glnro of a Begbio lamp set up behind, ami lined on tho "distant" station. Tlio shutters, which slide in slots ill front, were pierced in the centre with tinv holes, through which the light ol' tho' lamp penetrated. A, series of shutters was .provided, with holes'of varying sizes, the smallest representing the light of the lamp as it would appear at from eighteen lo twenty miles, under (lie most favourable circumstances, the larger holes representing the light at from four miles upwards. A miniature semaphore station was arranged on the hills. Arrangements have since been made to fix up a signalling station to give instruction in the inter-scrvico signalling code, with Hags strung on a mast. All present at tho demonstration were much struck with tho very practical nature of the .screen as . a training adjunct.' When not in use or when pitched for transport, it can bo folded to half its length, and there is nothing to get out of order in its simple mechanism. The authorities at the Army School of Signalling have been to see it, and its training value was at once recognised. Tho inventor was warmly complimented 011 his idea, and ho was asked to supply two of his screens for use in the School. The idea lias b:cn submitted to the War Oflice, and Sergeant Fox was given permission to patent the screen, and to deal with if on a commercial basis, lie has accordingly placed it in the hands of a London firni, who are making arrangements to provide units with tho screen at small cost.